Sonata

Riding around with six boys only occurs in a whore's world, or a shallow, emotion-deprived girl's.

I was neither.

If anything, that pool was 50 feet deep and murky as hell, and let's get it understood that I am not a whore by any standards. I could join a convent without any guilt in that department.

My sheets were clean, if you will.

But being in that van with a beer pack of the most rancid, loud-mouthed perverts (excluding Tom, who I wondered about his stake in the group. He must have had something to offer...) was quite the adventure my life had been lacking, but not a story I would tell any future grandchildren.

I was the core of their discussion; with jokes, debate, and suggestions made towards me. It seemed I only got a break from all that when one of them shifted the conversation in another direction, or when a good song was playing.

Becoming sourly nostalgic towards better days, I realized that I never considered music a priviledge, but an unalienable right.
An untouchable law up in the reigns with 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'. It was negatively fascinating how that could be taken away.

Music; the harmonic connection shared between the borders of the human race.

Music; an infinite source of comfort.

Music; the very essence of many people.

How such a decision could even be thought of was flabbergasting.
I never imagined that I would only have my mind as a stereo and all this anger inside me that couldn't be relieved because they took my medicine away.
That was as bad as leaving a patient in his stale-sheeted bed to suffer with the pain of his injuries.

Listening to the melody bleeding from the speakers, I became lost; fully infatuated. All the elements that make up a song were disected and analyzed, and at the same time, appreciated.

This brought the concept of thankful to a whole new level that was misunderstood by everyone except for me, and the boys in this car.

Even if Carolyne ever found out I snuck out of the house on that underestimated friday night, every cell within me wouldn't regret it for what I was a part of at the moment.

"Is tha' a yes Eve?"

I snapped out of my deep frame of thought and looked over at Lee like I knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, that sounds great to me."

God how I regretted that.
Everyone pulls this same prank on an expecting victim.
We know it as the worst consequence of spacing out.

They all exploded into laughter, including Tom, who coughed uncomfortably and snickered.
My ears bolted from each face, and back over.

What did he ask me?

"Alrigh' Eve, jus' give meh a call an' we can arrange a time an' date." Curtis yelled from the steering wheel, once again to compete against the blaring music.

I stood up from my seat with a hunched back, due to the inability to stand at full height in an automobile, and glared at him through the rear view mirror.
When he finally looked at me, all while the others were dying from hysterics, I flipped him off.

"Oi, Quazimodo, sit yer skinny arse back down before yeh bolt through the windshield."

one of them screamed before he pinched me.

i squeaked and spun around to face the culprit, only to end up falling back in my seat.
At least half of me.

My torso landed in Oli's lap.
I was absolutely humiliated while he just smirked.

"Yeh fell for meh fast love. Bloody hell, I knew I was charmin', but really-"

I scrambled away from him; fuming.

"You boys are complete savages." I muttered angrily.

He pouted his lip in an exaggerated gesture of frowning, to the extent where I took it as a faux expression. I glanced to the back seat, where Matt K. had still been staring at me intensely while painted with playfulness.

And Lee...well, Lee was just staring out the window; bobbing his head to the rhythm that shook the vehicle.

"Wha' do yeh mean 'savages'? There are no respectable blokes 'ere love; yeh're bouncin' around in a car filled with dogs, darlin'." Matt N said with a laugh.

I believe that there is a boundary as to when you can appreciate with blunt honesty, and when you should be scared.
I was shaking in my jeans.

Curtis used the mirror in his favor now to give me a seducing wink; the after effect being me sinking lower into the germ infected passenger seat.
I couldn't help but think that when I punched my phone number into his contacts that I was, perhaps, unknowingly signing my life away.

Examing it more deeply, I realized that I knew close to nothing about these boys.

I was stupid enough to go alone, and now I was surrounded by, as Matt put it, dogs.
For all my naive mind could fathom, they probably were not going to take me to a show at all, but to an alley between a gas station and a bakery to rape me, then slash my throat.
They could do it unbelievably easy.

There were enough of them so that each of my limbs would be held back by two arms, maybe use Tom to keep on the lookout for pedestrians, cops, etc.
Then Matt K., with the way he was gawking at me, would be first up to do the deed, then they could alternate.
I snuck out, so it's not as though anyone could tell the authorities where I could have possibly gone. I had a liable reason to runaway from home.
No friends, no caring family.

Hell, they could even assume that my mangle body floating down the river was suicide.

I killed myself because I couldn't handle the new changes that had "ruined my life", and I was "misunderstood", signed Evelyn, in one of the guy's handwriting; likely Tom's.

It was a full proof plan.

I took in all their faces again.
They looked content, idle, or assertive.

What the fuck did I get myself into?

[&&&]

"Goddamn Curt, I thought yeh stopped watchin' Drivin' Miss Daisy. Yeh're slower than my mum." Lee said.

There was actually normal pitched conversing happening in the van now without having to yell over someone else's chorus.
Tom had turned down the radio to a dull volume since we made off on exit 174, and officially into the real city.

"She didn' think so las' night."

An eruption of 'oohh's resounded within our metal box, and Lee ended up rolling his eyes; barely affected.

"Yeh're always bringin' family into it." he mumbled.

"Aye, yeh 'avin fun?" Oli asked quietly as the others continued bickering.

I shrugged while cautiously scooting away; an attempt to keep my personal space personal. I was somewhat suprised that he was actually talking to me after calling him a 'savage'.
Just be a half-hour interaction with them, they were the kind of boys that took everything as some genre of a joke.
Too bad for them, I wasn't joking.

"Wha' does tha' mean?"
And while saying 'that', he mocked me by raising, then collapsing his shoulders, only more dramatically.

"It means I wanna get to the fucking party before my skin starts sagging."

My eyes jumped out of my face when that statement left my lips; shocked that such sarcasm/honesty really snuck out of my conscience.
I really couldn't believe that I just told him that.
He beamed at my response.

"I admire a candid bird anyday." He said honorably.

I hit his shoulder playfully and scoffed.

"Yeah, yeh 'eard the lady Curtis, let's get a move on before I get arthritis an' can't strum no more."

I looked over my shoulder, peering to see who was eavesdropping on my conversation, only to get winked at by the one-and-only Matt K., who I in turn reciprocated a small smile out of sheer cordialness.
I thought to keep him minorly happy.
Or who knows, it could have produced a major sense of satisfaction in him just be acting like I was somewhat interested.

Is that a coinceited statement?

I couldn't think so when he was eyeballing me like that.

"Yeh're not anything special." Matt N. whispered in my ear.

I couldn't help but feel totally hurt; another valid reaction to blunt honesty. Why you'd say that to anyone was beyond me.

"Ugh, I didn' mean it like tha'. I'm jus' tellin' yeh tha' Matthew Keane is the biggest whore out of all of us."

"What do you mean?" I asked stupidly.

"I mean tha' since I told yeh tha' we're all dogs, then consider us poodles and Matt K. a rotweiler."

"Aye to tha'." Oli grumbled.

"Dumb git would flirt with a lingerie rack."

To control the snort of laughter that erupted was a complete failure. They both stared at me oddly as I recovered from my less-than-discreet outburst.

"Yeh okay love?" Salivating Matt asked as he placed a hand between my shoulder blades; beginning to rub from left to right smoothly.

Oli just rolled his eyes irritably, as I'm sure Matt N. was also doing from my other side.
I leaned forward, out of un-affectionate instinct, and told him I was fine.
His hand left my back, and I relaxed.

Oli murmered snidely,
"Woof woof."